BBC's The Choir: Military Wives: How one man's inspiring love of music turned these lonely and terrified women into a choir tipped to top the charts this Christmas | Daily Mail Online As Samantha Stevenson stared out from the stage of the Royal Albert Hall, the 28-year-old mother of two watched in awe and astonishment as the audience slowly rose to their feet and unleashed a cacophony of applause. From the royal box, the Queen, Prince Charles and Camilla smiled down warmly. Along with the 100 women standing beside her in elegant black evening wear, she tried to stop the tears from falling. Tried — and failed. United in song (from left): Samantha Stevenson; Nicky and George Scott; Hayley and Ade Bowles; and Emma and Gavin Williams. BBC2's The Choir: Military Wives has changed their lives If you had told the Scottish housewife nine months ago that she would be singing a solo in front of not only the Royal Family but an audience of 2.65 million viewers on national TV, she would have dismissed you as deranged. For by her own admission, she is a woman whose whole life has been led behind the scenes.

Samantha is a military wife and, like thousands of others in her position, she’d long ago accepted that she was not the ‘star’ of the family. The uniforms, the risk-taking, the cheering crowds and royal salutes, that was for husbands like hers — the heroes who fight overseas — not for the wives left behind to quietly get on with the day-to-day business of raising a family. Not that Samantha minded. ‘A lot of the focus is on the men, and rightly so,’ she says. ‘But we wives and children do get forgotten about. When our husbands are in Afghanistan, it is hard for us, too. We have to be single mothers and try to keep strong for our kids.’ RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share It can be hard, though, keeping children’s spirits up when your own often sink so low. ‘When my husband went away, I had no confidence at all,’ says Samantha. ‘On my long list of priorities, I came at the very bottom. There wasn’t really any worth to me at all.’ Now all that has changed thanks to perhaps the most inspiring and uplifting TV programme of the year.

BBC2’s The Choir: Military Wives, which finished with a tear-jerking finale this week, charted the journey of a group of shy, Devon-based military wives, including Samantha, as they grew into a pitch-perfect choir, under the tutelage of inspirational choirmaster Gareth Malone. The 35-year-old, who runs community outreach programmes for the London Symphony Orchestra, didn’t just teach his recruits to sing. He provided a deeply thought-provoking insight into the daily lives of military wives, sick with worry when their menfolk are serving on the frontline. Uplifting: Choirmaster Gareth Malone encouraged the military wives how to sing and now they are they are taking on The X Factor stars for this year's Christmas No 1 slot These are the women who usually only catch the public’s attention if they become one of the silent widows in black as their husbands’ bodies are repatriated. Malone gave these women a public face and, more importantly, a voice as, little by little, he coaxed them out of their shells to tell their stories ...and sing. And what voices they had.

The quiet courage of the Military Wives’ choir has created such a wave of public support they are now — by popular demand, and backed by BBC Radio 2 — taking on The X Factor’s shallow and fame-hungry wannabes for this year’s Christmas No 1 slot. With the money they raise going to the Royal British Legion and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, they surely deserve to triumph. So I have been invited to the Royal Marines Base Chivenor in North Devon, where it all began in February, to meet some of the women and hear how they’re adjusting to life in the limelight. As they gather for tea, mince pies and gossip in a cosy home on the barracks, the talk is not of fame at all. It is of the enduring friendships they have made, their shared sense of achievement, and of how the choir provided such a welcome distraction during the six hellish months when their husbands were away. That is exactly what Malone hoped to achieve. A former pupil of Bournemouth Grammar School, he studied drama at the University of East Anglia before realising music was his first love — in particular, its power to transform lives.

After a postgraduate degree at the Royal Academy of Music, his infectious enthusiasm was spotted by a TV production company seeking a choirmaster to front a new programme about music in schools. The result was the first series of The Choir, which saw Malone take a group of surly teenagers and prepare them for the performance of their lives at an international choral competition. Three similar series (and two BAFTAs) followed — as well as marriage to Becky, an English teacher (sorry, ladies) and the birth of their daughter, Esther. But it was when Malone received a letter from an Army wife suggesting he could form a military wives’ choir that he saw an opportunity to do an even more important Choir project. ‘It was something I’d never thought about before,’ he tells me. ‘What happened to wives when their husbands went off to war? ‘Our attitude to the Forces has transformed over the past few years — there is lots of support, but the women were largely neglected.

Yes, they have coffee mornings, but there was nothing that seemed to bring them together as a whole community.’ The quiet courage of the Military Wives' choir has created such a wave of public support they are now taking on The X Factor's shallow and fame-hungry wannabes for this year's Christmas No 1 slot It was only when he arrived on the base that he realised how tough this assignment was going to be. The troops were just heading off on a six-month deployment to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, and the women left behind were at their lowest ebb. The last thing they felt like doing was singing. Samantha was one of his first recruits. The young mother was struggling, having waved off her husband, L/Cpl John Stevenson, for his first ever deployment, leaving her with their two children Brodie, seven, and Elliv, two. ‘John left on my birthday. I didn’t know how I was going to feel,’ she says, still welling up at the sharp memory of that day. ‘I knew this could be the last time I saw my husband, the last time that the kids saw their dad . .

.’ The family had just been uprooted from their home in Cambridgeshire — most families get moved every two years — which made Brodie’s autism even more of a challenge. ‘Away from the life he had been used to, I could see him regressing and becoming more insular,’ says Samantha. ‘I just felt so guilty. And I had left all my friends behind. I didn’t want to be here, slap bang in the middle of nowhere where I didn’t know anyone. It took all my courage just to go to the gym.’ Having been a church chorister when she was a teenager, she was intrigued when she heard Gareth Malone was on the base, recruiting for a wives’ choir. Yet even once she’d signed up, she was almost too terrified to sing at all when twice-weekly practices began. And Samantha wasn’t alone. Gareth soon discovered that these supposedly gutsy women could barely utter a squeak. ‘I’d expected to see overt courage,’ he admits. ‘But I discovered that instead they have a quiet stoicism born out of necessity. As we went on, they started to open up and there were tears every week. But I felt they were healthy tears.

They were going through it collectively, rather than alone.’ Hayley Bowles, 36, a mother of two whose husband, Staff Sgt Ade Bowles, had recently been deployed, certainly sees it that way. She found the choir an essential prop as she wrestled with feelings of anxiety and isolation when left to ‘hold the fort’ at home. ‘When Ade was away, just spilling the milk could result in a 20-minute sobbing session,’ she remembers. ‘It felt like everything that went wrong happened because my husband was gone. ‘There’s always that part of you that is constantly worrying about your husband. It’s exhausting.You cope by just shutting down emotionally and focusing on your daily tasks. ‘Before the choir, it could be so lonely. But the singing was like therapy. It was so cathartic — we laughed and we cried together. ‘We were all going through the same thing, so we supported each other when we were down, practising in each other’s houses and cheering one another up.’ Slowly and surely, the women — and the choir — grew in confidence.

For their first public performance in the local town of Barnstaple, 43-year-old Nicky Scott, a former soldier herself, sang the first solo. Having served in Kosovo in 1999 and 2000, she was still adjusting to life as a full-time mother when her husband, Regimental Quartermaster Sgt George Scott, left for Afghanistan. ‘I had a bad start at Chivenor,’ she remembers. ‘I just couldn’t be bothered to make friends, having moved so many times. For a while, I just hated anyone talking to me. I went up to 13st 7lb, as all I did was stay in, cleaning and comfort-eating. ‘And having been a staff sergeant myself, you know what can happen out there. George can’t lie to me, so I always knew if he was doing something more risky. ‘I knew how singing had helped me in the past — I sang as a child in Wales.

Gareth said he chose me as a soloist because I had a rod of steel up my spine, but my God, it was nerve-wracking.’ The transformation of the wives wasn’t lost on their husbands during their phonecalls home, as Emma Williams, 33, found during her long-distance chats with husband, Staff Sgt Gavin Williams. ‘It was great for him because instead of hearing, “I’m bored”, this time it was completely different. He was relieved. ‘It was great to have a positive thing to talk about. He always knew when there had been dark days and I was down, even though I always tried to sound upbeat. They just know.’ Mercifully, when the men’s tour came to a close, every soldier from Chivenor returned alive — though sadly Plymouth’s 42 Commando had suffered fatalities, reminding the women of what could have been. The homecoming was even more special, as the women performed for their men for the first time. But there was bigger news. Gareth announced he had organised for the women to sing a song at the Royal Albert Hall for the Festival of Remembrance in front of the Queen. And what a special song it was.

Gareth had persuaded Paul Mealor, the composer responsible for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding music, to create a new work using words from letters that the women had written and received while their husbands were fighting abroad. The result was Wherever You Are, which starts with the words taken from one of the wives’ bracelets, a present from her husband: ‘Wherever you are, my love will keep you safe.’ When the wives first heard it, the floodgates opened. ‘The words were so real, they were the reality that we had been living through for the last six months,’ recalls Nicky. ‘When you chat on the phone, you always finish with “I love you” because you wonder if it is the last time you will ever say it.’ She adds: ‘Hearing those words really hit home.’ For Samantha, who had overcome her fears to be picked as the soloist, the joy at her husband’s safe return was tinged with some sad news. ‘My mother had a car accident and was in critical condition.

You spend all this time worrying about your husband, and then this happens when he is back.’ She decided she had to carry on ‘for my mum’ — who is now, thankfully, in a more stable condition. So just four weeks later the women filed on to the vast stage of the Royal Albert Hall. ‘For me, what was really emotional was standing behind the war widows, who filed on stage to applause part way through the show,’ says Samantha. ‘There were young mums among them. It could have been any of us.’ And it wasn’t just the women who were swept up by the emotion of the day. ‘It was the biggest thing that I had ever done, without a doubt,’ says Gareth. ‘It was hugely significant and emotional, seeing what the wives had achieved. As I watched them perform, it was the proudest moment of my life. ‘Out of all the programmes I’ve done, this was the one that brought about the biggest change for the people I met. ‘These women really needed this choir. And it was a moment I know they will always cherish.

I will miss them a lot.’ Today, the programme may be over, but the singing goes on — with all of the women continuing with the choir. This Tuesday, they practised for the first time with a new choirmistress, as Gareth has moved back to London — though he says he’ll definitely keep in touch. Which is just as well, as Hayley admits he became a bit of a surrogate husband. ‘I think we all had a bit of a crush on him!’ she says. And as for the future? Well, apart from the Christmas No 1, they hope they can inspire others to follow in their footsteps. ‘We’ve all given up our own lives — in a positive way — to follow our husbands and go where they need to go,’ says Hayley. ‘But we’ve now got something totally of our own that we can be proud of. I just hope that we have made military wives — and women everywhere — proud.’ Wherever You Are by the Forces’ Wives will be released on December 19. It will be available for digital download from December 5.

GARETH CHANGED OUR LIVES TOO THE TEARAWAY TURNED TEACHING ASSISTANT 'Before the choir I didn't go to school much. I was confused,' said Chloe Sullivan With thick make-up, an array of piercings and a shameful record of absenteeism, Chloe Sullivan was not the obvious choice to be a key member of Gareth Malone’s first TV choir, back in 2006. In this first series, he set out to help wayward children at Northolt High School in Ealing, West London, forming a school choir from very reluctant recruits. Today Chloe, 21, is almost unrecognisable. She works as a special needs teaching assistant and youth worker and says she owes it all to Gareth for inspiring her. ‘Before the choir I didn’t go to school much. I was confused, often high, quite lost really. My dad, an alcoholic, died just before I started school, I had issues with my body, a lot of problems.’ At first Chloe missed rehearsals, but slowly Gareth’s influence began to shine. ‘He kept trying,’ she says. ‘He gave me a solo and didn’t accept any excuses.

Apart from my maths teacher, it was the first time anyone had really tried like that with me.’ After leaving school, she got help with her substance abuse and then turned that experience into helping other young people. She has since become a Christian, done voluntary work in South Africa, and has recently started studying from home for a degree in international studies. THE PENSIONER WHO FOUND LOVE AGAIN 'Suddenly I met all these new people of all different ages,' said Fred Polley Fred Polley, 72, a retired technical manager, appeared in the third series of the programme — The Choir: Unsung Town — which tried to revive a sense of community spirit in South Oxhey, near Watford. Back then, Fred was struggling to cope with the death of his wife Betty, after a long illness, just three weeks earlier. Fred had been in a choir before, when he was a schoolboy, but since then his experience of singing hadn’t gone any further than the occasional karaoke turn. ‘I was really low when Gareth came along,’ says Fred. ‘He and the crew came to the club, which Betty and I used to run together, and he asked me to sing there and then.

‘I sang Elvis’s The Wonder Of You and that’s when he told me he’d got his first tenor. I never even knew I was a tenor. ‘At that stage in my life I wondered what was going to happen to me. I was 70 and on my own, thinking: “Am I just going to fade away?” 'Suddenly I met all these new people of all different ages. It really did give a new meaning to my life.’ And the icing on the cake? Fred went on holiday and met Carol, 59, whom he married in September. He added: ‘We’re moving to Norfolk and I’m looking for a choir to join. Maybe Carol will come with me.’ THE BOY INSPIRED TO BECOME AN ACTOR 'Looking back it's amazing to think how big an impact it had on my life,' said Lewis Meagor A-level student Lewis Meagor, 18, appeared in the second series of The Choir, in which Gareth sought to dispel the myth ‘boys can’t sing’ while working with teenagers at Leicester’s Lancaster School. ‘Back then, I was more interested in playing football,’ says Lewis.

‘I’d never though about performing or done any singing.’ Lewis was initially drawn by the chance to be on TV, but soon discovered he loved being part of a choir. ‘It was a bit of a surprise to me, but they found out I have a half-decent voice, and I just threw myself into it,’ he says. ‘Looking back it’s amazing to think how big an impact it had on my life. ‘From wondering about a career in sport, but knowing I would probably never be good enough, I realised that what I really wanted to do was perform. ‘Putting yourself out there like that when you are at a boys’ school isn’t easy and I did get some ribbing,’ he adds. ‘But it was such a good feeling to know where I wanted to go with my life; a lot of my friends still don’t know what they want to do, but I’m sorted.’ After sitting his A-levels, Lewis plans to apply to stage school. ‘I still love to sing, but now my main aim is be an actor, so I guess you could say the experience has changed me dramatically.’ Interviews by Beth Hale.

Military Wives scoop Classical Brit | The Independent Military Wives scoop Classical Brit Wednesday 3 October 2012 07:29 BST Click to follow The Independent Culture Maria Dudley, Victoria Pendleton, Gareth Malone, Eden Burrell and Paul Mealour with the Classic Brits single of the year award PA The Military Wives' choirmaster described the group's prize win at the Classical Brits as “the candle on the icing of a very large cake”. The choir scooped the single of the year gong for their Christmas chart-topper Wherever You Are at last night's glitzy ceremony at London's Royal Albert Hall. The group helped to round off the evening by performing another hit, the Diamond Jubilee anthem Sing. They were accompanied by the song's composers, Take That star Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber who both played grand pianos. Choirmaster Gareth Malone said: "It was very humble beginnings. It is about these women finding a voice and tonight is a great celebration of that." Members of the choir, made up of the wives and girlfriends of military personnel, rubbed shoulders with the likes of Sir Anthony Hopkins at the event.

The Oscar-winning actor attended the awards alongside Dutch maestro Andre Rieu, who picked up the prize for album of the year for his interpretation of a waltz Sir Anthony wrote many years ago. Rieu - known as the king of the waltz - dedicated the award to Sir Anthony and said: "He is the greatest actor we have now on this planet. Tony, thank you for this fantastic waltz and thank you for your friendship." Speaking backstage at the ceremony Sir Anthony insisted the win was all down to Rieu and said: "I'm just here by happy accident." The actor confessed he was overwhelmed by the award. He said: "Fifty seven years ago I went to the Cardiff College of Music and Drama not sure whether I should study music or drama so I studied both. So here I am tonight, it's a very strange time." Guests at the event - officially called the Classic Brit Awards 2012 with MasterCard - were to include the Duchess of Cornwall but she had to pull out due to a middle ear infection and sinusitis. The 20-year-old pianist Benjamin Grosvenor became the youngest ever male winner at the event, taking the critics' choice prize.

Russian conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko, took the best male artist prize for his work on five albums. Violinist Nicola Benedetti was handed the award for top female artist for her album Italia. US composer Williams achieved his lifetime achievement honour for orchestral scores for dozens of well-known movies, including Jaws, Superman, the Harry Potter series and Star Wars. His best composer prize recognised his work on War Horse and The Adventures Of Tintin during the past year. Montenegrin classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic - who trained at London's Royal Academy of Music - took the award for breakthrough artist of the year, while Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli collected the prize for international artist. The event - to be broadcast on ITV1 on Sunday at 10.15pm - was hosted by Myleene Klass.

Winners (with winning albums in brackets): :: Female artist - Nicola Benedetti, Italia :: Breakthrough artist of the year - Milos Karadaglic, Latino :: Composer - John Williams, (War Horse, The Adventures Of Tintin) :: International artist of the year - Andrea Bocelli :: Critics' award - Benjamin Grosvenor (Chopin/Liszt/Ravel) :: Male artist - Vasily Petrenko (Shostakovich/Symphony No 1 & 3, plus four other albums) :: Classic Brits single of the year - Military Wives/Gareth Malone, Wherever You Are :: Lifetime achievement award - John Williams :: Album of the year - Andre Rieu (And The Waltz Goes On) PA Military Wives Choirmaster Gareth Malone Brands Rumours That He Is Gay 'Juvenile' | The Huffington Post Military Wives Choirmaster Gareth Malone Brands Rumours That He Is Gay 'Juvenile' 29/05/2012 08:47 PA TV choirmaster Gareth Malone has branded rumours that he is gay "juvenile", saying that life in the limelight is like returning to the school playground.

The Military Wives star, who is married and has a daughter, said he was almost used to the assumptions about his sexuality. But he told the Radio Times: "It was slightly disappointing to find that after leaving school and leaving all that behind me from the age of about 15 to 30 and then coming into television and discovering 'Oh right, everyone is just as juvenile as the kids at school were!' "I am fairly flamboyant and expressive, but I know plenty of gay people who are incredibly repressed and aren't showy and don't like Judy Garland, you know." Gareth told the magazine: "I don't know what it is. It's almost that any display of emotion, crying ..., heart, feeling ..." He said: "I've sort of got used to it. I suppose if I took the time to really think about it, I'd like to say 'It's my business and I'm married for a start', but not really.

Really, that's one demon I've exorcised." The star, whose Military Wives choir beat the X Factor single to Christmas Number One, said he'd often heard comments such as "It's a bit gay" and "Singing makes you gay!" from men who were reluctant to join choirs. He said, with hindsight, he should have hit his bullies to stop them teasing him in his school days. "The key is to give people the tools to deal with it themselves, which is how I ended up getting through it - find your own strength in something, which for me was in music and the arts," the broadcaster, whose Military Wives choir will be performing at the Diamond Jubilee Concert, said. Choirmaster - definition of choirmaster by The Free Dictionary Choirmaster - definition of choirmaster by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Encyclopedia , Wikipedia . choir·mas·ter The director of a group of church singers. choirmaster (Music, other) a person who trains, leads, or conducts a choir choir•mas•ter the director of a choir.

[1855–60] musician - artist who composes or conducts music as a profession Translations [ˈkwaɪəˌmɑːstəʳ] N → director m de coro , maestro m de coros choirmaster Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: precentor References in periodicals archive ? A CHOIRMASTER undergoing a 75-hour ordeal of being locked in a hotel room listening only to Rick Astley's hit Never Gonna Give You Up has been forced to give up by online trolls. Giving up on Astley marathon During his years as a pupil at Moseley Grammar School Andrew assisted his music master, Barry Draycott, as organist and choirmaster at the Church of the Ascension, Hall Green, and later at St Bartholomew's, Wednesbury. Handel with care; We love BEST TV Once the elite voices had been picked, they trained with Military Wives choirmaster Gareth singing La Mer (Beyond the Sea).

On the crest of a wave; SKIPPER TURNS SINGER; THE CHOIR; Ferry captain Angus goes for glory with his crew on reality contest Elsewhere, the BBC marks the centenary of the First World War in The Passing Bells, an emotional drama about two young soldiers, and choirmaster Gareth Malone gets a group of celebrities in tune to record Children In Need's annual charity single. PICK OF THE WEEK GARETH MALONE'S ALL-STAR TAR T CHOIR (BBC1, Monday, 9 onday, 9 onday pm) PUDSEY has enlisted choirmaster Gareth Malone, pictured, to bring together an array of untrained voices from the world of television, sport and theatre to release the official 2014 BBC Children In Need single. Gareth Malone: the Nation's Favourite Choirmaster Discuss on Facebook In the fourth series of BBC2's The Choir, Gareth Malone forms a choir of military wives from two army bases in Devon – the Royal Marines Base Chivenor and the Royal Citadel, Plymouth – who learn to sing while their husbands/partners deploy for a 6 month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

While the men are away, Gareth believes music and singing will help the women through a difficult time of worry and separation; but the emotional torment of the tour is to prove unchartered waters for the inspirational choirmaster. Gareth plans several performances for his choir with the aim to give the women a 'voice' to be heard as they feel they are often forgotten. They sing to the local town of Barnstaple to help them understand their often difficult lives, at the Commissioning Dinner at the Sandhurst Officer Training Academy to get the military seal of approval, to their men at their Homecoming Medals Parade when they return from war, and finally in front of the Queen and Royal family at the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. Military Wives music releases Following on from the BBC programme, Gareth and the Military Wives went on to record a CD - Wherever You Are, a moving love song written by Royal Wedding composer Paul Mealor. It was compiled from letters between UK servicemen in Afghanistan and their wives and girlfriends and was released as a CD single on 19th December 2011.

The raw emotion of the song touched the hearts of the British public and BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans gave his personal backing to the single. Wherever You Are rose to become the UK's Official Christmas Number 1 of 2011 and proceeds from the sales raised over over £500,000 for The Royal British Legion and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen Families Association (SSAFA) . Military Wives star Gareth Malone fed up of gay rumours - Mirror Online Disapointed: Gareth Malone (Photo: Getty) Share Get celebs updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email TV choirmaster Gareth Malone has branded rumours that he is gay “juvenile”. The Military Wives star, 37, who is married and has a daughter, said he was almost used to the assumptions about his sexuality.

He said: “It was disappointing to find after leaving that behind at the age of 15, then coming into television and discovering, ‘Oh right, everyone is just as juvenile as the kids at school were.’ “I am fairly flamboyant and expressive but I know plenty of gay people who are ­incredibly repressed and aren’t showy and don’t like Judy Garland, you know? “I don’t know what it is but I’ve sort of got used to it.” Malone told the Radio Times he had often heard comments such as “It’s a bit gay” and “Singing makes you gay!” from men who were reluctant to join choirs. His Military Wives choir will be perform at the Diamond Jubilee concert on Monday in The Mall. Like us on Facebook Most Read Most Recent Most Read Most Recent The Choir | Military Wives Ep. 2 / 3 Pt. 3 / 4 - YouTube The Choir | Military Wives Ep. 2 / 3 Pt. 3 / 4 Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading...

Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Nov 28, 2011 FREE Singing Tips Video: In Plymouth, Gareth is overwhelmed by eager new recruits for his choir of military wives. Choirmaster Gareth Malone has formed a new choir of military wives at RMB Chivenor in North Devon while their husbands deploy to Afghanistan for a six-month tour of duty. The choir's first public performance was a triumph, singing to the local community of Barnstaple, and now Gareth wants his choir to spread and help wives on other bases across the country. He heads to nearby Plymouth, whose troops are suffering fatalities out in Afghanistan. Though Gareth is concerned whether singing in a choir can really help at such a sensitive time, he's overwhelmed by eager new recruits and organises a joint performance for his choirs to sing on Armed Forces Day on the Plymouth seafront. Gareth must manage emotions that ride high as the two choirs struggle to combine, and then he has to persuade them they are good enough to spread their message further and sing together at Sandhurst Officer Training Academy to get the seal of approval from the military establishment's top brass.

The Choir | Military Wives. Episode 2 (of 3). Part 3 (of 4). Category The Choir: Military Wives (TV Mini-Series 2011) - IMDb Edit Storyline Choirmaster Gareth Malone has tried to expose singing, specifically in a choral setting, to groups who he believes would benefit largely from the experience. The latest group he targets is the wives and partners of those in the military. This specific ten month project will include those stationed at R.M.B. Chivenor and the Royal Citadel in Plymouth. He believes military wives are unsung heroines who remain stoic in their quiet support of their husbands and the military as a whole. However, he feels that they do not have a formal place in the military, and thus literally and figuratively do not have a voice. He is hoping that the setting up of a choir of military wives will not only provide a distraction for the wives as their husbands are sent overseas - in these specific cases, a six month tour of duty in Afghanistan - but also that missing voice. He also wants the choirs to act as a formal mechanism to pay respect to the military which is the world in which they live, but also a ...

Written by Huggo TV choirmaster Gareth Malone on his new series - Mirror Online Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email If a boyish, bespectacled bow-tied bloke had asked a group of workmen six years ago to join his choir, he’d have been met with a chorus of expletives. But when Gareth Malone strolled into a Royal Mail depot and a water works this year, tough working lads queued up to give him their renditions of Postman Pat and Row, Row, Row Your Boat “It was a lot easier to recruit people this time,” admits the TV choirmaster who made stars of the Military Wives and proved the power of communal singing to a teary-eyed nation. “After the previous series people seem to think ‘Ah, it’s that Gareth Malone. We’d love to be in your choir . . . and are we having a Christmas number one?’ ” While there’s no guarantee he’ll top the festive pop charts, Gareth’s new series is certain to soar in the ratings.

The Choir: Sing While You Work sees him go into four different work places – an airport, a hospital, a postal depot and a water processing plant – to form new choirs from a cross-section of staff. Then, in a twist to his previous award-winning programmes, the four will all compete against each other. “I wanted to make it more demanding this time,” says Gareth, 36. “I had to find the best natural talent so everyone had to audition – in front of a room full of colleagues. “And it got pretty sweaty for some!” “But I like competition. It draws energy from people. It’s fun and exciting – and sometimes disappointing – but it makes them raise their game.” No.1 hit: Gareth with the Military Wives Choir (Photo: PA) It also makes for the great, tear-jerking TV viewing we have come to associate with Gareth since he hit our screens in 2006 with The Choir. That was followed by Boys Don’t Sing, Unsung Town and, most famously, Military Wives, which turned a group of service spouses into international stars with their No1 song Wherever You Are.

He also co-wrote the official Diamond Jubilee song with Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber and was made an OBE in this year’s birthday honours. Against the odds the quirky choirmaster got the nation to fall in love with singing . . . while viewers of both sexes fell a little bit in love with Gareth too. I expect a bow tie and tank-top when we meet in a London office. Instead he’s in jeans, a striped top and blue jacket, red socks and a dapper pair of two-tone shoes up on the desk for me to admire. His iconic specs are in his pocket and without them his freckled face looks even more boyish. As we chat, the photographer snaps away and Gareth asks several times “Does my hair look OK?” It’s this slightly camp side that has won him a huge gay following on Twitter and led to speculation about his sexuality. Scrubs up: Hospital choir in new series (Photo: BBC) But Gareth, who is married to English teacher Rebecca and has a two-year-old daughter, Esther, has been subject to teasing since school days. “The masculinity issue came up on this series too,” he says.

“You’re asking guys to do something that doesn’t fit the ‘manly’ stereotype. The sound can be a little effete at times. But when you get physically fit young men there’s a sound that has a real oomph about it. “And women love it! “The Severn Trent choir have a great bass section with a wonderful robust noise that makes women turn to jelly. “I always say to guys: ‘If you want to meet women, go and join a choir. “It worked for me. As a teenager it was a sure way of meeting women. I could tell you some stories . . . but I won’t.” Born in Bournemouth, Gareth studied drama at the University of East Anglia and vocal studies at the Royal College of Music, then worked for the London Symphony Orchestra until 2009 running their youth and community choirs. But while studying he also did a series of jobs that helped inspire the Sing While You Work philosophy. I did three months at a dairy, cutting the ends off cartons and putting in a bit of dye to check they hadn’t leaked – six every ten minutes, he says.

“There was a big red button on the wall to alert everyone to a leakage – but there wasn’t one leak in three months and I never got to push it. It was very noisy so I had ear defenders on and stood there in my own little world singing all day. “But I stank of milk. “When people do jobs that are quite linear and don’t use all their personality, singing can be a revelation. “Music is a whole brain activity – using motor skill, emotion, memory, vision, physicality. It’s social, it gets adrenalin coursing through your body. “It gives you a sense of warmth towards your fellow man. It’s magic – it gives you that tingle.” Stars of the new series include Natalie Beaumont, 37, a speech therapist at ­Lewisham Hospital, South East London. Traumatised by school bullying and emotionally exhausted by bringing up her deaf daughter she had no self-confidence. Her transformation brings a tear to your eye. Then there’s postie Sam Fry, 50, from Bristol, who had only ever sung karaoke, but turns out to be a talented tenor.

Mail voice: Post depot gear up for contest (Photo: BBC) Gareth says: “Sam wrote to me and said he’s now doing his round with a spring in his step, singing and laughing with customers and mates – full of self belief.” Critics have said Gareth turned the series into a contest because of shows like The X Factor and The Voice. “Not true,” he says. “And everyone assumes I hate the X Factor – but I love it! I love the entertainment of it and I like to see people criticised as much as anyone. “But I do believe these shows are teaching young people to sing the wrong way. Look at Jessie J...” Gareth then does a stunning impersonation of The Voice mentor’s famous vocal gymnastics. “I abhor that!” he storms. “Style over content. I mean, I love Adele – and you get less flouncing around from her – but look what problems she’s had, the vocal surgery. The way she sings is thrilling but dangerous. You can only sing like that for so long. “It’s not to say I don’t like vocal pyrotechnics.

When I hear what some opera singers can do, knowing the demand on their bodies, I am amazed.” For a classically trained musician Gareth has surprisingly eclectic musical taste – everything from Bach and Mozart to The Shamen and Demis Roussos. Demis Roussos? The 1970s “singing kaftan” from Greece? “Yes!” he shouts. “He was all about people’s memories of those early package holidays to Greece. He proves how music is ephemeral. “Someone once asked me ‘How can you claim Mozart is better than Christina Aguillera?’ I never had said that – but how ridiculous! “That’s like comparing a Ferrari with a rickshaw. Christina would agree.” The Choir: Sing While You Work, starts on BBC 2 next Thursday, September 20 at 9pm Like us on Facebook Most Read Most Recent

Question: Who is the choirmaster of the 'Military Wives'?
Answer: GARETH MALONE